Lyrical magical Negi Sensei?
by Alyeris
Summary: A bored godling, a misplaced decimal, and an artefact with the power to destroy a world. Negi must now face the perils of the Holy Grail War as he tries to find a way out of the mess he has ended up in... And he hasn't even made it to Mahora yet!
1. Chapter 1

Seated across from each other in a theoretically impossible conflict of dimensional laws, two 'beings' discussed a course of action in regards to one of the worlds that they had under their care.

Or at least they were trying to.

"For the last time you obnxious snot. No means no!" shouted the older of the two, currently in the form of a white-furred gorilla.

"You don't understand your position here dear," replied the 'obnoxious snot' with a slight grin across what was for now 'her' face. "I am not making a suggestion, merely stating a fact."

The gorilla frowned, thought about what she had said, then turned so pale that his skin matched the colour of his fur. Currently a shadowy confluence of some of the darker emotions that permeated the universe, Alyeris' face twitched in what might have been a smile.

"You... Not even you would be so stupid as to..." the gorilla tried to speak but struggled to overcome the shock of realisation.

Alyeris laughed softly, what would have been a pleasant sound transformed into malevolent knives to the soul by the energies that filled her. "Oh don't worry so much! It's not as if I have enough power to change prime realities."

"That is not what I'm afraid of," growled the 'gorilla', whose presence of being alone would have crushed any mortal so foolish as to be near him right now.

"Too late," the swirling matrices of darkness began to break up as Alyeris retreated from this domain. "I've taken care not to let the effects spread dear, so just sit back and enjoy the show..."

Left to himself, the 'gorilla' brooded silently on the matter for a few sequences of time and causality that had no meaning outside this space. The first consideration was that it was already too late to stop that stupid snot's plan from going ahead. Maybe if he cheated and... No, that would be a violation of lore. Damn it. She was right. He didn't have a choice.

The 'gorilla' sighed and withdrew his aspect from the space where all normal laws broke down. Only a fraction of his entire being unlike Alyeris' manifestation, but the difference in scale did not mean all that much in the grand scheme of things. All things had their part, and some had stranger parts than others. The pest was one such example who he found particularly aggravating, but there was no denying that her power in circumstances such as the one he was observing was the real deal. Almost resigned now, he tweaked his perception to observe what had happened while he had been distracted.

... Huh? Temporal paradox? Dimensional merge? Physical, spiritual, and thaumaturgical energy equivalency algorithms? What the f*** did that bitch think she was doing!

-x-x-x-x-x-

Throughout the specified universe, destinies were crossed and fates sent astray as the godling went ahead with some remodelling.

Gaea and Akasha suddenly found themselves amalgamated with not just one but four additional 'worlds', magical and theological systems included.

Monsters of the night that should have ruled unchallenged for centuries began to encounter beings that not only matched them, but in some cases went far beyond them. The resultant chaos across the planes created a situation where the secretive elements of the world were unable to do much for a greater portion of human history.

Some people that should have died lived, and some who should have met their ends dodged the bullet.

Magic and science were taken in directions other than where they would have gone, with some interesting results for those that used them.

Last but not least, history changed. Different words were spoken and alternative actions taken. New faces were met and old one passed by. The false history that resulted from all this contained some things that would have been and far more that could have been.

None of which really mattered to Alyeris. The godling had done all this before after all, the only difference this time being that the scale was a bit greater than usual.

Time ticked by, and finally passed the point where the godling had decreed that all the strands should come together.

... Hmm? Why was the pattern a lot messier than had been intended?

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ten years old and currently resident in Japan, Negi Springfield was experiencing a crisis of faith.

In himself.

When he had completed the academic portion of his magister training a full six years ahead of schedule, he had thought that he was ready for anything that the headmaster could throw at him for his practical.

That confidence had fractured a bit once he opened his scroll, but since then had been taped back together. After all, it couldn't be that hard to teach a bunch of teenage Japanese girls English now, could it?

Once he had arrived in Japan however he quickly realised that he might have underestimated the difficulty of the task. The first sign of trouble had come when an apologetic airline official had informed him that his baggage had been misplaced, with his staff and other magical tools currently headed for Australia on flight BA922. For another, he really should have slept on the plane over, in which case he probably wouldn't have fallen asleep on the bullet train. A mistake he only discovered when he woke up nine stops and over three hundred kilometres from Mahora academy.

Low on money and bereft of most of his gear, he hadn't had much choice but to phone in to inform a much amused headmaster Konoe of his current location. Unfortunately there was no one who could get to him on such short notice and thus Negi was directed to the nearest acquaintance of the headmaster to stay the night.

Until here things had still been going... Not according to plan, but still as smoothly could have been expected when you told a ten year old magical boy to go to Japan by himself a week before the school term would start. What came next however had been enough to to give Negi severe doubts as to his suitability for the career he dreamed of.

First he had walked in on a murder, then had come the panicked flight from the scene as some lunatic with a cursed spear tried to ventilate his neck, and now here he was cornered in some park with said lunatic about to kill him.

This was not a good day to be Negi Springfield.

"You done already?" the lunatic asked the young boy before him. "Ah, suppose I couldn't ask for much more out of a tiny tot like you. Shame though, if you had a few more years you could have become a pretty good mage."

Negi was down, but in an attempt to show that he wasn't out he raised his wand in one last effort to take down this man who was after his life. Before he could get anywhere with his spell however the man kicked him in the stomach to send him flying into a nearby tree. With his magic barrier already gone from the chase up to now, Negi felt the full impact and groaned as the pain ripped across his body.

"That's more like it!" the man snarled with a pleased smile on his face. "Never give up kid! If you have to die then do it with your hands around your killer's neck!"

"Ahhh..." Light-headed from the pain and his courage shattered by his opponent's brutality, Negi's mind was blank as he watched the man approach.

The man raised his spear and glared down at him. "Don't have anything against you, but my master told me to leave no witnesses. Hope you have better luck next time kid."

Pinned by the man's killing intent, Negi couldn't quite believe he was about to die. Senses sharpened into a fine edge by terror watched as a scarlet point tore through the dark night. Closer and closer came the cruel seeker of hearts, so slow yet so quick. It was only when an arm's length seperated him and death that Negi realised that, yes, he was about to be killed. He was helpless again, just like that time six years ago. This time however...

Chring! The clear sound of metal ringing against metal.

Unbeknownst to him or his attacker, the ground around Negi had been glowing softly for a while. When the spearman had moved to finish Negi off the light had flared and summoned into being four figures, one of which had quickly moved to parry Lancer's attack.

Clang! Ching!

"Tch!" the spearman found himself at a disadvantage as he was pressed back by the sudden obstacle that had presented itself. Whoever it was, they were experienced in battle and refused to give him the room he needed to deploy his longer weapon freely. He was about to try and disengage when he heard someone else come in from the side.

"_Tödliche Strafe!"_

"Whoa!" Negi's attacker narrowly avoided his head being pulped like an overripe lemon as he leapt back to avoid a pointed war-hammer.

The time between the spearman's attack being interrupted and his being forced back hadn't been any more than two seconds. When Negi opened his eyes again to find out why he was still alive he saw four people standing guard over him. A short, red-haired girl with a hammer almost as long as she was. Then a blonde woman that reminded him of the nurse back at his school for some reason. Next was a heavily muscled man with white hair and... Were those dog ears? Since when did people from magica mundus walk around over here without a disguise spell? Finally there was...

A knight, standing proud and strong as she faced her enemy with sword in hand. Under the silver moonlight her long hair took on the shade of cherry blossoms by night, a pale lilac that accentuated her alabaster skin against the darkness of the armour she wore. Radiating determination, she was deadly force embodied in an enchanting shell.

It was the stirring of an emotion unfamiliar to him, but for the first time in his short life, Negi looked upon a woman and thought that she was beautiful.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Around the time Negi had been about to meet his maker at Lancer's hands, those with the eyes to see could have spotted two little girls in the air above Fuyuki city.

"_Wide Area Search complete. Anomalous magic signatures detected." _Raising Heart informed her 'master'.

"Could you point them out please Raising Heart?" asked Nanoha Takamachi.

"_Of course, my master."_

Putting words to action, Raising Heart threw up a holographic display of Fuyuki city with the sources of magical energy identified marked in pink.

"So many of them," Fate said quietly as she counted the number of dots. Twenty-two in total, spread across the entire city.

"Arrange them by signature strength please," said Nanoha.

Raising Heart promptly responded by making the dots scale in size in respect to the strength of the signature that had been detected there. Instantly, nine of the dots shrank to tiny pinpricks while four dramatically grew in size.

Fate examined the display and correlated it to the city spread out below her. "I guess we know where to look first, right Nanoha?"

"Yep!"

The two of them were about to head towards the nearest signature when Raising Heart flashed a notice.

"_Alert. New anomalous magic signature detected. Strength is seven times that of next largest."_

"Ehhhh? Seven times?" Nanoha looked at her device in shock. "Raising Heart, is it a Lost Logia?"

"_Insufficient data_," the device answered. "_Closer examination required."_

"Change of plans Nanoha?" inquired Fate as she waited for her friend and investigation partner.

Nanoha nodded. "We need to go check on whatever that is. If its a lost logia there might be people getting hurt."

"Where is it?" Fate was a little too far away to see the display that Raising Heart had up.

"South, where... the... explosions are?" Nanoha finished on a surprised note as she spotted the flashes of light and telltale clouds of smoke that indicated a magical battle going on.

"That can't be good," murmured Fate as they quickly flew towards the scene of the battle.

"Uh, huh." Nanoha agreed. "Whoever it is doesn't even have a barrier up," she pointed out in a voice full of concern.

Fortunately, it seemed that the battle - if that was what it had been - was soon finished. Still anxious to find out the cause, Nanoha and Fate arrived on site as the last of the smoke was being dispersed by the slow night wind.

"There's somebody there," Nanoha mentioned as they came to a stop.

"Four, no. Five of them." Ever cautious, Fate had Bardiche at the ready. "Be careful Nanoha, we don't know if they are friendly or not."

"We wont know until we talk to them," Nanoha pointed out reasonably. "Still, I wish Chrono or Yuuno was here to help us identify them," Nanoha sighed as they descended to talk to the mysterious group.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Alyeris finished with the timeline analysis and winced. Heh heh, a misplaced decimal meant that Negi had arrived in Fuyuki a day late. Instead of summoning Saber as planned Negi had established a link with the Book of Darkness. This changed a few things, especially in regard to Nanoha and her friends. On the plus side, the girl known as Hayate would go on to live a better than average life with her family and friends until she died at the age of fifty-seven in an air accident.

As for the downsides... Alyeris felt a headache coming on when the pattern started to branch out like a cobweb built by a spider on LSD. This most certainly was going to be a doozy to sort out... Huh? Was that Negi in a mini-skirt just now?

What do you know, the godling thought as the new future began to stabilise. This might be more fun than expected!

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Having driven off the threat to their master, Signum noted the approach of the two Mid-childian mages and summoned Laevatein into her hand again. "Vita, Zafira, company. Shamal, is our master ready to move yet?"

"In a moment," Shamal replied while she worked to heal the young boy's wounds. Really, she wasn't proud of what she remembered of their past, but even they had never tormented a child like this. Three broken ribs and heavy bruising across his lower stomach. The damage was beyond her ability to fully repair, and their new master would have to spend a night in a hospital to make sure that he healed alright.

"I can't believe we have to serve a kid this time," said Vita with Graf Eisen slung across her shoulders. "He looks smaller than I am."

"Vita, I will not forgive such disrespect towards our master," Signum said coldly as she eyed up the newcomers who had just landed. "Be quiet and prepare to carry out your duty. These two seem like they will be fit sacrifices for the book of darkness."

"Alright," Vita sighed. She turned towards the two... Children? Vita raised an eyebrow as she looked over the two girls. Either the world had changed a lot over... however long it had been, or some god out there was having a laugh at their expense.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Alyeris felt that thought was a little unjustified. All she had done was nudge a few probabilities. She wasn't laughing or taking enjoyment from... Oh wait, she was wasn't she.

Heh heh. Back to the show...

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

This close to the unknowns Nanoha could see that one of them was a young boy about their age, currently injured and being treated by one of the woman who looked like they were in a uniform. Albeit a very... villainous uniform.

"Fate-chan, I think these might be bad guys," she whispered to her former rival and now treasured friend.

"What makes you say that?" asked Fate. As far as she could tell they hadn't shown any sign of aggression towards them, and one of their number seemed to be treating the civilian boy who lay unconscious behind them. Had Nanoha spotted something she hadn't noticed?

"Look at what they are wearing!" hissed Nanoha.

What? Fate looked, and couldn't see what Nanoha meant. "Look at what Nanoha?"

"Look at the revealing black clothes they are wearing!" Nanoha said excitedly. "Only villains wear clothes like that."

"..." Wordlessly, Fate pointed down at herself and the barrier jacket she wore.

Nanoha smiled sheepishly, only just realising her faux pas. "Well... You were kind of a villain when we first met."

Fate's expression didn't change a millimetre. "Nanoha, you are one of my most treasured people, but sometimes I really don't understand what goes on inside that head of yours."

"... Sorry?" Nanoha replied in a cutesy voice.

"..." Vita was tapping a foot against the ground. "Are you two about done? Because if you aren't coming... I'm going!"

"Eh? Wait! We are from the Time-space Admini - Kyaaah!" Nanoha barely managed to dodge the hammer that the little red-haired girl swung at her. "Why are you attacking us?"

"Nanoha!" Fate rushed to help her friend but suddenly found herself having to leap up into the air as a sword slashed through the space her body would have filled. "Who are you?"

"We are the Wolkenritter, the clouds that gather before the darkness, he who is of the night sky," Signum declared in a matter-of-fact tone. "We exist to serve the master of the Book of Darkness, and right now our duty demands that we gather your power for his use."

"Wait, what?" Nanoha would have asked for more information but was again interrupted by the red-haired girl as she attacked.

"Pay attention chibi!" Vita called out to Nanoha as she chased her. "I'm your opponent so at least make this fight interesting!"

Fate had a similar problem on her hands as Signum lay into her with Laevatein. Although she was far more experienced at hand-to-hand combat than Nanoha, she had known at the first clash of arms that her opponent outclassed her in that domain. An escape into the air had been of no use, with her opponent showing that she too was just as familiar with that formless element. Her only chance was to obtain some distance and begin to mix it up with some spells, but every time she moved she found her way barred by this new enemy swordwoman.

"Bardiche!" Fate decided to try something.

_"Scythe Form!"_

"Hmph!" The sudden deployment of the energy blade made Signum pause for an instant.

Fast as she was, this was enough time for Fate to prepare one of her favourite spells. "Photon Lancer!"

When the rain of light sped towards her Signum moved quickly to protect herself. "Panzer Geist."

A loud explosion rocked the still night air. Knowing that her attack hadn't been enough to end things, Fate prepared another round of photon sphere's as she backed off a little. When nothing immediately moved within the smoke Fate relaxed a little and wondered if the swordwoman had taken some damage from the attack.

Suddenly, Signum lunged out of the cloud at a speed much greater than anything she had shown before. Startled, Fate released her Photon Lancer again, but the Knight of the Sword was not about to allow herself to be hit again.

"Purple Lightning Flash!" The magic-enhanced blade smashed straight through the plasma bolts in front of her.

"Ah!" Fate put up a guard with Bardiche but was flung back through the air upon impact. Her device came out in even worse shape than her. Already chipped and scored by Laevatein, the full on hit left the shaft cracked in places.

Off to the side Nanoha wasn't faring much better against Vita. If there was one thing to be grateful for however it was that the two unknowns around that young boy had put up an isolation field. As destructive as her tiny opponent was, this was a very good thing in terms of collateral damage and civilian casualties, both big no no's when operating on non-administered worlds.

"Divine Shooter!" Nanoha shot off two rounds of her most commonly used offensive spell as she flew up to dodge another swing of that hammer.

"Hah, pathetic!" cried out Vita as her barrier stopped the attack cold. "If that's all you got you may as well give up already!"

"Why are we even fighting?" Nanoha asked as she dodged Vita's pursuit. "What do you people want?"

Vita ignored her and got out four metallic orbs. "Would you stay still you little brat? Schwalbe Fliegen!"

Nanoha bristled. "Hey! I am just as big as you are - Eek! Round Shield!"

Nanoha too got to enjoy the sensation of being thrown through the air as the four streaks of red light hit her defence. Fortunately her shield had managed to hold out and the only damage she had taken was to her pride.

"Muu, Raising Heart, are you alright?" she asked her device as she regained her balance.

"_I am fine my master_," replied the device.

"Okay," Nanoha looked up to see the violent chibi-chan ready to sweep down again. "Excuse me, but must we fight like this? If you would just settle down and talk I am sure that we could figure out something!"

"Less talking, more dying!" shouted Vita as she attacked. The red-haired knight was not pleased with how the battle had gone so far. This annoying little girl kept running away instead of politely standing still in order to be hit.

Nanoha frowned as she loosed off another three divine shooter shots. "Stop it!"

"Eh? Panzer Schild," Vita lazily put up a shield against which the three rounds spent themselves uselessly. "Would you be quiet already?"

"_Master, I suggest Divine Buster_," Raising Heart spoke up as Nanoha considered her options.

"I suppose we don't have a choice," Nanoha muttered. "Chibi-chan! If you aren't going to listen to me willingly..."

"_Divine _-"

"I will just have to force you to!"

"- _Buster_," Raising Heart finished gathering power and Nanoha released her attack.

"Chibi-chan?" Vita was about to throw a little tantrum when she noticed the concentration of magic power around Nanoha's device. Cocky from the ease of the battle until now, she was about to just stand there and take it when she realised just how much power was being put into the attack. "Ack! Pferde!"

Due to her slow reaction Vita got clipped by the energy beam as it went by. Nanoha frowned and was about to try again when she realised that something had changed.

"Enough with the games," Vita growled as she shook her left arm. "I'm finishing this now! Graf Eisen, load catridge!"

"_**Jawhol!**_" The armed device quickly loaded and discarded two of the catridges that were loaded in its magazine.

"_Danger. Enemy power rapidly rising_," Raising Heart warned Nanoha.

"What?" Nanoha couldn't understand why the atmosphere had suddenly changed. "Uhmm, Raising Heart, Divine -."

"Oh no you don't! Pferde!" Vita rushed her opponent. "Todliche Strafe!"

"_Round Shield_." Of its own intiative Raising Heart cancelled the Divine Buster and acted to protect its master.

"Heh, fine then! Raketenform!" Graf Eisen shifted from its plain hammer shape to a mad scientist's dream of what a warhammer should be like. Rocket boosters roared into life as the pointed bit that rested against Nanoha's defence bored its way past the Round Shield. "Sweet dreams brat!" Vita cried out as Graf Eisen finally shattered the shield and Nanoha's barrier jacket.

"Nanoha!" Fate saw what had happened and attempted to go to her friend's side.

Signum took advantage of Fate's distraction to step inside her guard. "Foolish," she commented as her fist hammered into Fate's stomach. "You shouldn't look away from the enemy in front of you during a battle."

She then raised Laevatein to finish the girl off. It was regretful that she had to kill such a young girl but her duty as one of the book's servants was clear.

Eliminate all enemies, gather their energy. Nothing was to stand in the way of completing the book and granting ultimate power to her master.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

When Negi opened his eyes again he saw an unfamiliar face hovering over his.

"Are you awake master?" the woman asked.

"Hmm?" Negi blinked. Oh, it was one of the people from just before. Who was she talking to? It couldn't be him could it?

"Oh good," the woman helped him to sit up. "Master, I am sorry that we are unable to greet you as protocol demands, but right now we have to get you to a safe location. Is there anywhere that you would recommend?"

"... Hwah?" Negi stared at her blankly for a second before he came to his senses. "Excuse me maam, but when you say 'master' are you talking to me?"

"Of course master," the woman replied. She looked surprised. "We are a part of the Book of Darkness, and as the book's master you are the one we obey. Uhm... You didn't know?"

"... Book of Darkness?" Somehow, that didn't sound so good.

"Oh dear," the woman mumbled to herself. "We will explain later. Right now we really must leave before we are attacked again master. Is there anywhere we can take you?"

Negi winced as the pain in his chest reminded him of his harrowing flight from the crazy spear wielder. There were more people like him around? In that case...

"Uhm... I was on my way to the local church when I was attacked," Negi told... Oh dear. "Oh, excuse my rudeness maam. My name's Negi Springfield, may I ask you for your name?"

Now it was the woman's turn to blink as she stared at Negi. "Excuse me?"

Negi squirmed under her gaze. Was there something wrong with what he had just said? "Uhm, may I have the pleasure of getting to know your name maam?"

"... My name is Shamal, master," the blonde Wolkenritter said dumbly. Her mind was trying to deal with the weirdness of a ten year old boy who was her master using such formal language to ask for her name. It... Just wasn't something she had ever dealt with before.

"Ms Shamal? Well, uhm, if you could be so kind. Could you please help me get to the Church?" Negi's calm facade crumbled a little as he remembered why he was on his way to the church. "The priest there is supposed to give me a place to stay for the night while I wait for someone to come pick me up."

Shamal decided that she could be dazed later. She had an order from her master to carry out. "At once, master."

She was about to tell Signum of their orders when a loud crash was heard above them. Negi was about to ask what was going on when he saw a girl about his age stretched out on the ground with some strange staff in ruins beside her.

"Master? Where are you going?" Shamal asked when Negi leapt up.

Negi didn't notice that Zafira had fallen in behind him as he rushed to help the wounded young lady. When he got close he hissed as he saw how badly she had been beaten by whoever had attacked her.

"Are you alright miss?" Negi asked the inane question asked by so many people around the world when confronted by someone in pain. He then remembered where he was and asked the question again in Japanese just in case.

"Who... ?" Fate whispered as she struggled to get up.

"Master! Please back away from her," said a voice Negi hadn't heard before. "We will leave as soon as I have collected her linker core."

Negi turned to find the woman he had admired earlier. He stared at her for a moment, why he wasn't sure. Then his head caught up with her words and Negi frowned at her.

"Excuse me miss, what do you mean 'collect her linker core'?" Negi asked suspiciously. "We have to get her to a hospital straight away!"

Signum shifted uneasily. "Master? She is a prime source of power for the book of darkness. It would be a waste not to collect power from her." She then stepped forward to do just that.

Negi barred her way. "Stop it. You are not going to do anything to this girl."

"Master?" Signum wasn't sure what to think of this development.

_Signum, I don't think our new master knows anything about the book of darkness_, Signum heard Shamal tell her over a telepathic link.

Signum looked at her fellow knight. _Are you sure_?

_Quite_. The Knight of the Lake nodded. _From what I can tell his magic power triggered the activation of the book, but I don't think it wasn't intentional. It would be strange after all for such a young boy to summon us_.

_I concur_, added Zafira. _His expressions are too open to be the type of person that would normally use the book_.

Signum looked back towards her new master. He was standing there defiantly even though he looked to be in pain from his own wounds. It was actually quite cute in a way, she thought before she realised her thoughts were wondering.

_Ah. Vita. _She addressed the last of their group.

_What is it? _Vita replied as if annoyed. _If you are gonna say I'm going too slow again, don't bother. I just need to collect this brat's linker core and I will be with you_.

_It's about that, _said Signum as she looked at her master again. _Don't collect so much that it kills her. It appears that our new master is not yet ready to take a life._

_Huh? Gah, I knew it! He's just a brat himself isn't he!_

_Vita... _Signum growled over the link.

_Fine, I will just take about three quarters then. Be right there. _Signum could imagine Vita's scowl without even seeing it.

Satisfied that Vita wasn't about to offend their new master's sensibilities, Signum cut the link. She then knelt down in front of her master and bowed her head.

"The Knight of the Sword, Signum, formally swears service to you, my master." She waited to see if he would say anything but went on when it didn't appear as if he would. "What is that you would have us do?"

Even if she asked, Negi was in no state to answer. Just the pain from his still tender wounds was bad enough, but the events he had gotten embroiled in tonight were just too much an inexperienced boy to handle. First the murder, then the crazy guy, and now he had these people who called him master who apparently wanted to go about draining magical power from people. What was he supposed to think? Never mind do!

"Uhm..." The huge man and Shamal had come over to bow before him as well. It didn't look as if they were about to get angry at him for stopping them. "Are you going to try and drain this girl if I move?" he asked uncertainly.

"Only if you wish it, master," Signum replied with her head still down.

"No! Uh, ah..." Negi gave up. He couldn't deal with this himself when he hadn't the faintest idea what was going on. Maybe the priest he was supposed to meet could help? "Okay, we should take this girl and head for the church."

Signum finally looked up. "Take the girl? Are you sure master?"

"Of course!" Negi was shocked. "We can't just leave her here!"

"As you wish," Signum stood up. "Zafira, take the girl. Ah." She stopped and looked at him again. "Master, there is another girl that we were in battle against. Should we take her as well?"

"Another one?" Negi was beyond surprised now. "Is she hurt too?"

Signum nodded. After being hit by Vita and having most of her linker core drained, she would be surprised if the girl could even stay awake.

"Yes!" Some of what he had seen and heard finally got past Negi's horror, allowing him to draw some connections. "And no more fighting until I say so! Especially not little girls!"

"Yes master," Signum decided to ignore the comment about little girls for now as she opened up the link to Vita again. Did their new master think they were child abusers or something?


	2. Chapter 2

Father Kotomine... Was a bit different from what Negi had expected.

Upon being told to go see the local priest by the headmaster, Negi had pictured in his mind a portly white haired old man with a serene smile on his face. When he got to the church however he was greeted by an oppressive figure who took one look at their small crowd and ordered them inside.

Negi wasn't quite sure why he was so intimidated by father Kotomine, who had displayed no signs of any power apart from some skill in healing as he went over the two girls. He thought it might simply be the priest's force of presence, as his voice had been just as heavy as the mood he gave off. Whatever it was, the four knights who had followed him here seemed to have been put on guard as well. Negi had noticed that Signum hadn't budged from her position between him and father Kotomine since they had first arrived at the church.

Slow and heavy footsteps turned Negi's attention back to the priest. Kotomine-san had finished with the girls and had come to stand in front of him.

"Now, young man. What do you need to see me about?" he asked him.

"Uhm..." Negi looked around at the knights. They had all introduced themselves to him but he had yet to find out anything more than the fact that they thought he was their master. Confused as to how he should say this, Negi decided to just tell the whole story from the beginning. "What happened was that -..."

Ten minutes later Negi and Kirei were sitting across from each other in the church's sitting room drinking a cup of tea.

"You were quite lucky to have summoned your servants when you did young man," Kotomine-san commented once the silence had become awkward. "As a participant in this grail war Lancer would most certainly have killed you otherwise. Quite legally too."

"Legally?" Negi's eyes went wide. "What do you mean legally?"

Kirei raised an eyebrow and looked at Signum who stood beside Negi. "You haven't explained anything to him yet?"

"We did not have the time, priest." Signum hissed the last word as if she found it ridiculous.

The priest only smiled crookedly and sat back. "Would you like me to explain young man?"

"Yes please, Kotomine-san," Negi replied instantly. He was shocked by the thought that anyone could kill someone without any repercussions. What did he mean that the crazy man could have killed him legally? Wasn't this modern day Japan?

"To begin with, I must tell you one thing," Kirei leaned forward as if he was about to tell Negi something serious and Negi unconsciously leaned forward as well.

Kirei looked Negi in the eye. "To have arrived in this city when you did, young man... You have to be one of the unluckiest magister trainees I have ever heard of."

Crash. Negi facefaulted against the tea table.

With a pleased smile on his face Kirei continued. "As of three weeks ago Fuyuki city has been declared a closed zone by the Church and the Clocktower. All mages and related personnel who step inside the boundaries of the city during this time forfeit their right to the protection of the law. Battle is permitted in order to defend one self or to do harm to another, but only as long as you make sure to keep the mundane population ignorant. These conditions were agreed to by the Kansai Magic Association and will stay in effect until the current grail war has ended."

"That's..." Negi was lost for words. The priest was telling him that in effect this whole city had become one huge free-for-all survival deathmatch arena. "You mentioned the grail war earlier," said Negi. "What is it? And what does it have to do with the local magic association allowing people to be killed?"

"I was just about to come to that," said Kirei. He then picked up his tea and drank again, as if he didn't notice how tense Negi was becoming. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes. The grail war is an event that takes place every sixty years here in Fuyuki. Seven masters within the bounds of the city are chosen and given the power to summon servants from history with whom to join the battle. The goal is to destroy the other servants in order to open the Seal of the Covenant. Inside of which is the Sangreal, an artefact that is rumoured to be able to provide those who drink from it an almost unlimited amount of mana while it is active."

"..." Wise beyond his years when it came to magic, Negi could understand why someone would put up their lives for the chance to obtain such a thing. When mages wanted to cast a large scale spell one of the most troublesome barriers they encountered was the shortage of mana. One could get by this restriction by performing the spell in a ritual manner in a location where one could tap the mana flow of the world itself, but they were few and far between. Getting permission to use them was said to be almost impossible.

"In case you are interested, there are two ways in which you can win this war. Firstly, the elimination of all enemy servants. You may find this slightly difficult as a servant tends to be a hero out of legend with the power and skill to match some of the greatest fighters of today." Kirei paused here and mumbled something before he gave Negi a funny look. "Just out of interest young man, are you related to the Thousand Master by any chance?"

"He's my father," Negi replied woodenly. He was struggling to keep up with the information he was getting and wasn't quite sure why the priest had brought this up.

An unidentifiable emotion flashed across the priest's face before he covered it with a smirk, too fast for anyone present to have made it out. "Ah... Then this may interest you. Ten years ago your father went into battle against a certain group of servants." Kirei gave the Wolkenritter a knowing look. "He won, but in so doing helped trigger one of the worst disasters that Japan has ever seen."

"My father was here ten years ago?" Negi jumped up from his seat. "Kotomine-san, what do you mean 'triggered off a disaster'? Do you know anything about what happened to him afterwards?"

Kirei shook his head. "I regret to say that I know nothing about what happened to him after his involvement here. As for the disaster... We are still not quite sure what happened, but when your father defeated that group of servants the Seal was opened much earlier than it should have been. Something happened soon afterwards to destabilise its presence here, and half of downtown Fuyuki was destroyed by the explosion and the fires that followed."

"..." Negi was silent again, his mind's eye seeing a different scene of devastation. A village in the countryside going up in flames. "... How many people died?" he finally whispered.

The air around the priest grew even heavier. "The official count was 891 dead and 42 missing. If you add the numbers who died in hospital or were crippled forever the total is three times that." Kirei looked at Signum again. "I understand that your father tried to save as many people as he could, but the last wound he received against his opponents was too severe for him to stay for long. I cannot be sure if that was true since I was one of the wounded at the time."

"You were there Kotomine-san?" Negi asked, surprised by this revelation.

"Ah! I remember you now!" Vita, who had been sitting quietly off to the corner, leapt up and pointed at Kirei. "You are that creepy priest from the last war! The one that was with Rude and Shiny!"

"I am fascinated to see that you remember me," the priest answered her drily.

Negi was startled again. "You were one of the masters?"

"He was one of the three masters that were alive at the time of our termination, master," Signum unexpectedly told him. "Vita, be quiet. Kotomine-san, I understand that the Church overseer is supposed to be a neutral observer of the grail war. Are you bound by this or are you a participant in the war yet again?"

Although Signum's hand strayed towards Laevatein, Kirei didn't blink as he dismissed the notion. "I am only an observer this time, Signum was it? I wondered if you and your fellow knights would show up again after you were defeated by the Thousand Master last time."

Now it was Signum and the Wolkenritter's turn to be looked at strangely by Negi, who had just realised who it was that Kotomine-san had said his father had fought towards the end of the last war.

"Ms Signum, did you fight against my father in the last war?" he asked to confirm his theory.

Signum went to her knee. "I apologise for not saying anything earlier master. I was not aware that you were related to any of those we fought against the last time we were summoned." She bowed her head. "Please rest assured that as the new master of the book of darkness you have our utmost loyalty."

Negi felt a complicated swirl of emotions toss and turn inside his heart. He was excited that he finally had some clue as to what his dad had been doing ten years ago, but at the same time he was shocked to realise exactly what that had been and how the people now around him had been involved. Most complicated was what he felt towards Signum. There was a high chance that the knight who knelt before him had been partly responsible for his dad's disappearance, if only because she had hurt him seriously enough that he had to withdraw and seek treatment. Even with advanced healing magic a wound like that lowered your reserves for a few weeks, or permanently if it was so bad that it couldn't be cured completely. On the other hand, she seemed to be perfectly serious when she said that she now served him, and... There was something else, but he couldn't have explained what it was. All Negi knew was that looking at Signum made him feel funny and flut-

She hurt dad.

"Urk," Negi clutched his chest. It hurt for some reason.

"Master, are you alright?" Signum hurried to support him. When he felt her hands around him it only seemed to make the pain worse.

"Is there something wrong with your master Wolkenritter?" asked Kirei when Negi began to moan softly.

"Shamal!" Signum shouted for the healer of their group.

"Here, sit him down," the Knight of the Lake was already there and she cast a diagnosis spell as Signum lowered Negi into the seat. "That's very odd. His body's going wild and his linker core is unstable."

"Can you fix it?" Signum asked.

"I will try," Shamal said uncertainly. Since she didn't know what was causing this all she could do was stabilise his body and hope for the best.

With a worried light in her normally clear eyes, Signum watched in nervous silence as Shamal tried to heal their master of whatever was afflicting him. The Knight of the Sword could face any enemy without fear, treating any wounds taken as nothing more than a badge of honour, but in a case like this where her master was the one who had a problem she grew flustered and uncertain. It was all the worse because there was nothing she could do but wait due to her lack of knowledge in regards to the human body.

"Shamal..." Signum called the other knight when Negi showed no sign of recovery after a few minutes.

"I don't understand," Shamal sounded a little frustrated. "My spells fade almost as soon as I use them."

"Perhaps I may be able to help," suggested Kirei, startling the Wolkenritter.

"No way you creepy priest!" Vita jumped in to put herself in his way. "There's no way you are touching our master."

Zafira prowled over next to her in his beast form to reinforce the message.

Kirei simply stared at Signum with a silent message in his eyes. Signum hesitated but when she saw that Shamal wasn't getting anywhere gave in and took Laevatein in her hand.

"Vita, Zafira, stand down."

"Eh?"

"Grwf?"

Signum stepped over to Kirei's side. "Go and see if you can help priest. Be warned however that I will take your life should you show any sign that you may be doing anything suspicious."

"Oh ye of little faith," Kirei said with a snort as he went to Negi's side. "As a servant of the lord it is my duty to do what I can to help those in need."

Shamal, keep an eye on what he's doing. Signum ordered the discomfited healer.

Under the wary eyes of the Wolkenritter, Kirei began to examine Negi.

"As I had expected," he said after a while. "His soul is being strained by something."

"His soul?" Shamal seemed puzzled.

Kirei looked at her. "Hmm, it appears that our schools of healing magic are very different. No matter." A soft blue light surrounded Kirei's right hand as he mumbled a short prayer in latin, and Negi seemed to relax. "There, he should be fine for now."

Shamal checked and found that Negi's readings were back to normal. "Thank you Kotomine-san, but could you explain what you did?"

"It was a realignment of his spiritual balance, not something that you would understand," Kirei told her. "He should wake up in a few minutes. Now, if you will excuse me, I must go and inform some people to come pick up those girls you brought in. If you wish to leave there is a key and directions on the table over there for the house that the association keeps. Young Negi here is welcome to use it for as long as he needs."

"We will leave as soon as our master is awake," Signum confirmed. "Thank you for your assistance priest."

Kirei smiled, somehow giving the impression that he knew something they didn't. "My pleasure, servant." He then turned around and headed for the church hall. "Oh, and if Negi decides that he wants to become fully involved in the grail war, tell him to come see me first," Kirei asked of Signum before he went out the door. "I must record the entry of an eighth master after all."

* * *

Elsewhere in Fuyuki city, a little girl stood silent vigil over the cooling corpse of the man she had most hated and most loved.

"This is a joke right Kiritsugu?" she whispered. "You can't be dead, not when I never even got to ask you why..."

"Dad? Where are you?" somebody called out from around the street corner. The girl looked up, puzzled by the noise. The attention deflection spell she had cast around the neighbourhood meant that no one should have bothered her until the morning at least.

"Dad?" The person who was shouting came into sight. When she saw who it was the little girl's eyes suddenly grew as cold as ice.

"Dad? What..." Emiya Shirou grew pale as he realised that the man who had raised him was dead. "Who... Did you do this?" he shouted angrily at the only person in sight.

Ilyasviel von Einzbern, a girl who had faced hardships that no child should have had to endure, snapped at the accusation. How dare he? He was the one who stole her father from her in the first place! Without him she would have been able to enjoy a happy family life together with Kiritsugu and mother. How dare he accuse her of having done this!

Consumed by rage towards the boy in front of her, Ilya was a little beyond such things as reality as she imagined the life she could have led if he hadn't existed.

"Berserker!" Ilya called out to the servant that had been transformed by her anger. "Kill him! Slaughter him! Scatter his body parts across the earth!"

"Uoooh-!"

"Shirou!" Shirou was forced aside as a young women in blue and silver armour darted forward with sword in hand.

"Saber, don't let them get away!" Shirou shouted. His father was dead, the man who had saved his life gone without even a chance to say goodbye. He wasn't half the mage that Kiritsugu had been, but Emiya Shirou wasn't about to sit around with his father's killer right in front of him. "Trace, on!" he cried out as a simple curved blade appeared in his hands.

With misunderstandings and tragic pasts coming together in a confused tangle of emotions, the first battle between the two children of Emiya Kiritisugu began.

Onboard the Asura, the medical bay was filled with those who knew and were worried for the two young girls who had just been picked up from below.

"How are they?" Yuuno asked as the medical officer ran a check over them.

"In better shape than I had expected," said the medical officer who looked pleasantly surprised. "Whoever patched them up really knew what they were doing. Fate-chan should be up within a few hours. Nanoha-chan however..."

"What? What about Nanoha?" Chrono pressed her when she did not continue.

The medical officer frowned as she looked at the readings. "She has some quite severe damage to her linker core. Nothing that wont heal given time, but I recommend that she stay in bed for two or three days at least."

"Whew," Chrono let out a sigh of relief that was echoed by all the others.

"What happened down there anyway?" Arf asked angrily now that she knew Fate was fine. "I thought you said they were just checking on someone!"

"They were," Chrono replied, a bit angry himself. "A TSAB liason sent a message to HQ that he had important information in regards to a dangerous lost logia that was thought to have been destroyed ten years ago. Nanoha and Fate were supposed to just go and check the situation and then pick up the liason."

"Does that mean that there's another lost logia active on Earth?" asked Yuuno.

"We aren't sure," replied Chrono. "The area that Nanoha and Fate were in is apparently a ritual site for the mages of Earth. Due to the lack of details that Admiral Graham's contact made available we only know that there's something going on that got the two of them hurt. The admiral wants us to postpone an investigation until the contact can secure some concrete information, but..."

"We will be sending an investigation team down as soon as possible," Admiral Harlaown announced as she stepped into the medical bay.

"So it really is the book of darkness?" Chrono asked with a complicated light in his eyes.

The Captain nodded, knowing what her son was thinking. "The data recorded by Raising Heart and Bardiche leave no room for doubt."

"Hey wait a second, Earth has mages?" Arf exclaimed.

"... What's the book of darkness?" inquired the more scholarly part-time ferret. He wasn't so surprised that Earth had mages, after all you didn't get a ten year old AAA class mage popping up out of nowhere.

"We've actually known that Earth had mages of their own for 10 years now," Captain Lindy admitted with a sad smile on her face. "No one is sure of their numbers however, and the TSAB has a strict need-to-know policy in place due to the fact that negotiations with the local authorities are under way in regards to a limited Administration Registration of the planet. I am only allowed to tell you since the personnel on-board are about to enter a situation where we will come into contact with some of them." She turned to Yuuno. "As for what the book of darkness is... Actually, do you mind if I left the explanations for later Yuuno-kun? I have to give a briefing on it to the advance team."

"Uh, sure captain," Yuuno said with a nod.

* * *

Silence, complete silence. A lack of sound so total as to oppress the senses.

Negi had never realised before now just how noisy the world he lived in was. Few people ever did. From the bustle of a busy city, to the wind rustling the grass on an empty plain, every corner of the world was filled with sounds. This was a truth from the dawn of time, and every being on the planet grew up with the background noise of life.

Only now in its absence did he realise how comforting that was.

He couldn't even hear himself. Not even the slightest puff of air from his breath. He wondered how this was possible, but a glance around himself at the unnaturally foggy landscape he had found himself in suggested that he would not like the answer.

Without any clues as to how he had ended up in this strange space, all Negi could do was wander aimlessly in search of an exit. When time passed however with no signs that he had made any progress, he began to grow nervous. He was mature for his age, but still a child. Lost in an environment out of horror movies and unable to hear a thing, his tender mind began to break down under the strain.

Negi was on the verge of losing hope when he noticed something ahead of him. A person, a woman lying suspended in the middle of what appeared to be some kind of magic circle. Relieved to see something within this bleak and empty domain apart from himself, Negi quickly ran towards the stranger in order to ask her where he was.

He didn't have much luck. Though the circle did not repel him, the woman that it held was fast asleep, and nothing Negi did could wake her. Desperate now, Negi racked his mind for options, and realiesd that there was one thing that he hadn't yet tried.

His magic.

Unsure if it would work in the absence of sound, Negi chanted the activation keyword that acted as a form of self-hypnosis to put himself into the optimal state to draw upon his magic power. "Ras tel ma scir magister."

And was very surprised to find that he was able to hear himself.

Before he could go any further however, the magic circle around the sleeping woman flared to life. Negi was wondering what was going on when something came ripping through him, clawing at his mind and magic like nothing he had ever felt before.

The last thing he saw before everything faded away was that of the woman's eyes opening. Ruby eyes, staring with deep sadness into his own.

"Shamal! What's going on?" Signum asked when their master suddenly began to scream and writhe in pain.

"I don't know!" the knight of the lake replied in a panicked voice as she looked back and forth between her new master and the ancient book that they were bound to. "The Book of Darkness suddenly activated, but it isn't letting me access its functions!"

"Override it then!" Signum snapped as she held her young master down to stop him from hurting himself. "Priest!"

"Didn't I just heal your master Signum?" the priest drawled sarcastically as he came back into the room.

"Just do what you can to help the kid," Vita said angrily from her seat as she glared at him.

Kirei raised an eyebrow as he knelt back down. "Still so angry about the last time we met Vita? You really must come listen to one of my sermons sometimes, to forgive and forget is a good lesson for people to learn, even if you are not a christian."

The hammer of the Wolkenritter choked on her response as Signum told her to shut up and let the priest get on with his work. It was only when she calmed down and sat back that she realised what was wrong about what she had just said and felt.

"Hey Shamal," she said as she turned towards the blonde knight currently buried amidst diagnostic and command screens for the Book of Darkness.

"Yes Vita?" Shamal replied distractedly.

Vita kicked her feet as she scrunched up her face in thought. "How come we remember the last time we were summoned? Don't we usually forget most of that when the book gets reactivated?"

Shamal froze in the midst of opening a screen. "... You are right."

"Shamal, what's happened to the book?" Signum asked when she overheard what Vita had asked.

"Just a second!" the blonde knight closed her eyes in order to process the data faster. "Scanning... Changes detected in fifty seven areas. Thirty five of which are in the core matrix to which I don't have access." Shamal frowned. "Strange, some of these changes... It's as if the Book of Darkness has begun to merge with something."

"Merge?" Zafira, who had been quiet until now with nothing to add, growled. "With what?"

"... I'm not sure," Shamal whispered. "All I can tell with my access is that... It's powerful."

Distracted by the news, none of them noticed the flash of an unidentifiable emotion in Kirei's eyes as he listened to them.

"Ahem," the priest cleared his throat, his eyes dead once more. "Something seems to be drawing upon the boy's magic. Can you tell me what?"

"Ah!" Shamal's eyes flew open. "The collection programme's been corrupted!"

"What?" the other Wolkenritter cried out in alarm.

"It's leeching power from the master to fill the pages," Shamal said in a shaking voice. "I.. I can't stop it without administrator access."

Signum and the others had no idea what to do. An enemy they could fight, if power was needed they could get it, but what could they do when the artefact that gave them life was now about to destroy that which held them here?

"So that's what it was," Kirei mused to himself as he looked down upon the youngest master of the Holy Grail War. "Boy, can you hear me?"

"What are you doing priest?" Signum said suspiciously when Kirei shook her master.

"I can help him get away from this, but I need him to be awake," explained the priest as he applied another spell to temporarily isolate the boy's soul and core. "Can you hear me now young Springfield?"

"Yes..." Negi gasped as he opened his eyes. The normally bright eyes were clouded with confusion and pain.

"I've cut off the Book's influence for now but it will not hold for long," Kirei told him. "If you wish to live past tonight you must be able to block such assaults by yourself."

Negi looked at him blindly until meaning penetrated. "... How?"

"I will teach you, so focus and remember what I'm going to tell you." Kirei sat Negi back up and put a hand on his back. "Get ready," he warned.

"What?"

It was soon clear what he was supposed to get ready for when the pain flooded back in. Negi nearly passed out, but the strange soothing sensation he could feel from the hand on his back and the knowledge that he was in danger of dying if he didn't focus kept him stay awake.

Kirei waited until he was sure the boy was ready. "I see that I may not have to arrange a funeral today. As would be expected of his son I suppose."

"Get on with it priest!" snarled Zafira who could see the sweat gathering on his master's brow.

"Indeed," Kirei's hand began to glow with a soft blue light. "Now, repeat after me young Springfield. Sabbe sattā sukhi hontu..."

Half an hour later, Negi was sleeping again, exhausted from the effort it had taken to memorise the chant and magic cycle that Kirei had taught him while resisting the pain of having his magic forcefully drained.

"Is the kid going to be okay?" Vita asked with a hint of concern in her voice as Signum wiped the sweat from his face. Negi was sleeping with his head on the sword knight's lap, where he had been put by Kirei once the lesson was complete.

"The programme has slowed down," said Shamal from where she was running through the data she had managed to retrieve. "He will be okay now... but not for long."

"How long do we have?" Zafira asked.

"From what I can see..." Shamal grimaced. "Six days at best."

"Then you know what you must do," said Kirei from his seat on the sofa. He had been forced to sit down and rest after he had run through most of his power.

The Wolkenritter looked at each other, grim determination showing in their eyes as they made up their minds. Filling the Book of Darkness was something they were programmed to do anyway, but the threat to their master meant that the task had just taken on a priority far greater than before.

"We will have to take out the other servants as quickly as possible," said Shamal. "We lost of lot of pages in the last Grail War because we were forced into drawn out battles."

"Agreed, and we will have to make sure that we are the ones to take out the servants as well," Signum's fingers stroked Laevatein's hilt. "We were unable to collect the power from half the servants and their masters last time."

"What about the Sangrael?" asked Vita. "Wouldn't the power from that be enough? Our last master certainly thought so."

Signum shook her head. "Getting access to it is out final goal, but we must take out all the servants for that. It will be best to focus on the battle for now."

"If the mages are anything like how I remember it will be a lot easier to take them out instead of their servants," Zafira argued. "We could open the Seal that way if we located them all and took them out with long range assaults."

"Zafira does have a point," said Shamal. "Most of the mages here have far lower defensive capabilities than we are used to. It might be a good idea to focus on getting access to the Sangrael as quickly as possible instead of battling the Servants."

Signum looked thoughtful, and was about to reply when another voice interrupted them.

"No fighting," Negi said weakly. "I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Master? You were awake?" Shamal said, surprised.

Signum looked down at her young master, lying there across her lap like the innocent child he should have been. "Master, what do you mean that we must not fight?"

"Just that, no fighting," Negi coughed and tried to sit up. Signum caught him as he was about to fall back and leaned him back against the sofa. To which he gave her a grateful smile, unsettling the knight of the sword with the unfamiliar sensations it invoked in her chest.

"Master, I'm not sure you understand," Shamal said gently, as if she was speaking to a normal child. "If we do not fight and fill the Book of Darkness, you will die. It is our duty as your knights to prevent that."

Negi smiled at her too, a little sadly this time. "I know that Ms Shamal, but I can't let anyone else get hurt in order for me to stay unharmed. If someone must die... It should be me."

Negi's voice broke down towards the end, and no one was able to hear what he mumbled afterwards, but the gist of his words was clear. Their new master was going to sacrifice himself.

"Oh geez, I can't believe you brat!" Vita snarled. "Did your mother drop you on your head when you were born or something? You are going to [i]_die_[/i] unless we do this! Die! This is no time to try and be a damned idiotic hero!"

"Vita, be quiet," Signum's eyes flashed with restrained anger, although the target of her fury was a mystery. "If you cannot be respectful when talking to our master, do not talk at all. This is the last time I will warn you." That said she turned to look at Negi. "Master, do you truly intend to do this? Even though it means that you will no doubt die?"

Negi looked back at her uncertainly for a long moment before he finally seemed to steel his resolve. "Yes."

Silence, no one spoke for a long while as the Wolkenritter tried to come to terms with their master's decision. Self-sacrifice was not an alien concept for them, but only when it was applied by them for their master. For their master to sacrifice himself for others he did not know was a first in their limited memory, and it was something that they had trouble getting their heads around.

The awkward atmosphere was broken by Kirei, who reminded them of his presence by clapping his hands loudly.

"Bravo, bravo!" the priest laughed as if amused. "As expected of the son of the Thousand Master! Such nobility, such self-sacrifice. Why, it brings a tear to my eye to see it in such a young child."

Negi was young, but he could tell when he was being made fun of. Frowning he replied heatedly to Kirei's mocking words. "Why yes Kotomine-san, I am my father's son, and as you pointed out I am only doing what I expect my father would have done if he were here. Do you find that amusing?"

The Wolkenritter responded to their master's ire by turning hostile gazes upon the priest, but he did not seem to be affected at all as he looked upon Negi with a sneer on his lips.

"Oh, a very fine sentiment I am sure young Springfield, and I realise that you may indeed have the resolve to back your words," the priest's sarcastic tone deepened. "But do you truly think that your actions affect only yourself? Do you truly believe that you will be able to avoid getting involved in the war just because you have decided you do not wish to participate?"

"What do you mean Kotomine-san?" Negi asked, confused now.

"Look upon your knights, young Springfield," Kirei said as he gestured towards the four servants of the Book of Darkness. "They are your Servants, and unlike some others summoned by the Grail will obey your every word, for you are their master, the one in whom they have placed their fate and trust. Will you betray that trust then by allowing their existence to be erased? For that is what you have decided for them by giving up."

"What?" Negi turned to look at Signum. "Is that true?" he asked hesitantly.

Signum tried not to meet his eyes, but nodded once in silent confirmation.

"The world is not so convenient that you can ignore that which does not suit you," Kirei continued forcefully before Negi had the change to recover. "There are events in this world from which you cannot step back from once you are involved, and this Grail War is one of them. Give up, go and play with your toys if you wish, but do not believe that you will be left alone to perish in quiet ignominy. Make no mistake young Springfield. If you attempt to avoid the war, the war will come to you. The only way out of this is to step forward, the only way to live is to win. Will your resolve be strong enough to survive the flames of battle? The numerous foes who will seek to take your life?" Kirei quietened down. "I look forward to finding out the answer to that question."

With that the priest stood up and left, leaving behind the Wolkenritter as they looked to see what their master would decide, and a contemplative Negi. Little Negi, who now faced a choice that would determine his future, and shatter what little innocence he retained.

"What is the Book of Darkness?" Negi asked as they made their way down the hill. They had said goodbye to Kotomine-san and were on their way to the house that had been provided for them.

Signum looked at Shamal, who sighed and pulled out an ornately decorated tome.

"This is the Book of Darkness, master," said the knight of the lake as she handed the book over. "It's dormant now but for ourselves and the collection programme, but in essence the book is a data collection and power storage device."

* * *

"What's wrong with that?" Arf asked onboard the [i]_Asura_[/i]. "Doesn't sound so bad to me."

"If that was all we wouldn't be so worried," Amy sighed as she read the data she had received from HQ.

"Amy is right," said Lindy. "Sometime in the past, the core programme that governs the functions of the Book of Darkness was corrupted. Instead of being the harmless archive that it was meant to be, the book went out of control as its self-defence programme registered everything around it as a threat."

Yuuno blinked. "Self-defence programme?"

* * *

"You could say that we are the faces of the self-defence programme," Shamal added. "The first line of defence between the book's master and any threats we encounter."

"Hang on a second. That can't be right Ms Shamal," Negi looked at the Wolkenritter. "A golem or any other limited intelligence is one thing, but this? That's impossible! You are..." Negi waved his hands around as he fumbled for a suitable term. "Well, people!"

Shamal smiled as her new master tried to come to grips with their existence. "We do possess the physical traits of humanity I admit, but there's no denying that we are created beings master. The Book of Darkness created us, and to the book we will return when our duty is complete."

* * *

"So those are the things that attacked Fate and Nanoha?" Arf said angrily.

Lindy nodded. "Yes, the Wolkenritter. The four encounters that the TSAB has on record tell us that they are cold, emotionless projections of the book's programme."

"Make no mistake," Chrono butted in. "Though they may look like people, they are not. The TSAB has attempted to reason with them in the past and have paid dearly for it. With no real will or emotions, they exist only to protect the book and complete its pages. No matter what the cost is to the book's wielder or those around him."

* * *

"We exist to serve, master," Signum told him. "By our honour as knights of the Belkan empire, we are your swords in battle. Your shields against all harm. Only speak of your wish, and we will carry it out."

"Unless you are stupid enough to try and kill yourself that is," Vita added. "We kinda have ta stop ya then."

"For once I find I agree with Vita," Zafira said in his calm and low voice.

"I see," said Negi as he absorbed the implications. It seemed that they were serious about this and under the circumstances he didn't feel up to debating the meaning of life with them. "Let's leave that matter aside for now. What's this about collecting pages for the book?"

"The Book of Darkness stays dormant until its 666 pages have been filled. As was the case with Fate and Nanoha, the power to fill those pages comes from the linker cores of mages and other beings that hold enough magic to be collected." Chrono paused and brought up a screen. "While the Wolkenritter are troublesome, they do not compare to the danger presented by a filled Book of Darkness. Once activated, the book's power is such that entire worlds have been devastated in the past, with the programme only shutting down when excessive force was applied in attempts to destroy it. If we are to avoid the worst case scenario here on Earth, we have to make sure that we do not allow the Wolkenritter to proceed with their plans."

"So you are saying that the book will stop draining my magic if we fill the pages?" Negi asked to make sure he understood correctly.

"Yes master. Once the book is active it is able to utilise an environmental collection programme to power itself from the ambient magic of a world," explained Shamal.

Negi frowned. "Why can't it do that now?"

Shamal smiled bitterly. "I am afraid that due to the high power requirements of the Book of Darkness, it has a minimum level of power that needs to be collected before the core programmes will activate. Before that point is reached not even the administrator is able to change any of its settings."

"Oh, that's a shame," said Negi, falling silent as he thought about what that meant.

"We would not suggest collecting power from our enemies if there was another choice master," Signum said after a while when Negi seemed to fall under a gloomy cloud. "As it is, the other mages involved in this conflict will attempt to kill you for their goals, and it is only reasonable that we protect ourselves. If we are able to fill the Book of Darkness in the process that is just another bonus."

"... But that still doesn't mean that we should kill people," Negi replied. "I remember that you were able to drain power from that girl before without killing her. Can't we just do that for everyone else we face?"

Signum sighed and resisted the temptation to massage her temple. They had made progress, in that their master was showing a willingness to participate in the battle at least. His wishes however...

"Master, if that is your command we will obey," said sword of the Wolkenritter. "However, I urge you to remember that while the masters are human, the Servants that they summon are but spirits given physical form. Given that they are beings whose power matches their legends, defeating them in that manner... Will be difficult, and dangerous for all involved."

Negi thought about that. From what he had read the practice of summoning spirits for battle was not that uncommon a strategy here in the East. If he thought about it that way it didn't seem so wrong to 'kill' them. However, thinking back to the crazy man with the spear who had chased him earlier today, he couldn't see the line that seperated him from an individual with a life to a mage's tool of battle.

"I will... Think about it," he said reluctantly as he suspended judgement on the matter. He wanted to talk to some people about the mess he had found himself in before he decided on anything. "That's all I can say for now, so please restrict yourselves if we are attacked."

"Yes master," intoned the Wolkenritter.

* * *

"So what do we now admiral?" Yuuno asked as the briefing came to an end.

Admiral Lindy looked at her son, who was staring at a display with a dark look on his face. It was clear that he wasn't about to join them again any time soon.

Sighing, she turned back to face Yuuno. "Now that we've confirmed that the Book of Darkness is here at work, the Asura has to head to the nearest shipyard for some modifications. In the meantime however we will be setting up a field base in Fuyuki city from which to operate from and keep an eye out for the Wolkenritter."

"Ma'am, there's an addendum on the information that Admiral Graham gave us which says that the man who was to be our original contact has a son," said Amy as she came across the entry. "We may wish to send someone to check up on him."

"That would be wise wouldn't it," Lindy nodded and looked at Chrono. "Chrono dear, could you please do that? Yuuno-kun, Arf, may I ask you to accompany him just in case?"

"Yes admiral," Yuuno instantly replied. Arf on the other hand looked hesitant.

"You don't need to worry about Fate, Arf," said Lindy when she noticed. "The Asura won't be heading back immediately and I will make sure that she's well looked after until you get back."

Arf nodded then and stood up to join Chrono and Yuuno as they made their way out of the room.

"Amy, while they are at it could you please organise a meeting with the person who contacted us earlier?" Lindy asked as they left. "What was his name again?"

"Kotomine Kirei-san, admiral. Our information lists him as the local representative of an organisation known as the Catholic Church, which is listed as being one of the seven..."

* * *

They were halfway across town when Zafira noticed they were being followed.

_Signum, there's somebody behind us._

_How many?_ Signum asked when she was unable to make out the presence.

_Just two, but they don't appear to be working together._ Zafira told her. _One's stopped while the others continued to close in._

_Vita, on me. Zafira, keep an eye on the second one. Shamal, get ready to defend our master._ Signum summoned Laevatein to her hand once more. "Master, please stay back."

"Excuse me Ms Signum?"

Negi was about to ask what was going on when a person walked out onto the street in front of them.

"Well, well, what have we here?" said the young man, who was dressed in a school uniform of all things. "From your appearance I take it that you are the pests who sabotaged the grand ceremony that my family took the lead in creating? Doggy knights or something like that wasn't it?"

Signum's eyes narrowed, but it was Vita that took the bait and responded. "That's _Wolkenritter_ you bastard, or are you too dumb to remember names?"

The young man clenched his fist. "You can't speak to me that way you lowly servant! I am the heir of the Matou family, greatest of the three families who set up the Grail War in the first place!"

"Lowly servant?" Vita growled. "We are knights in service to our master you moron! Don't you know the difference? And what kind of name is Ahou? I thought that meant idiot!"

"You, you!"

While Vita and the stupid master exchanged their insults, Signum had been keeping an eye out on their surroundings. When she spotted the glint of metal under moonlight, she instantly leapt into action.

The enemy servant, who was dressed in a manner similar to them, had an instant to look surprised before she hurriedly blocked Signum's attack with her weapon, a pair of iron spikes on a long chain. Once on the offensive however, the sword of the Wolkenritter was not easily stopped, and the servant was steadily forced back.

"Damn it Rider, what do you think you are doing?" the servant's master shouted when he saw how the battle was going. "Fight back you useless toy!"

A short distance from him however, Vita had a nasty smile on her face as she considered the mage in front of her. "Hey there, aren't you forgetting someone?"

The other master turned around and paled when he saw Vita get her hammer ready to strike. "Rider! Defend me!"

"Too late!" Vita shouted as she rushed forward.

She was about to swing when she remembered her master's command. It was an order typical of a brat who didn't know anything, but it was still a command. Easing the strength behind the blow, Vita struck in a manner that would only break a rib or two. That short hesitation however proved enough time for Rider to somehow get away from Signum to put herself between Vita and her target.

"Khh..." Rider hissed as Graf Eisen smashed into her body.

The servant was thrown back, blood flying from the deep wound in her side which she had taken to get away from Signum. Surprised that her blow had been stopped, Vita took a step back.

Everyone that was there, especially Negi, was surprised by what came next.

"Useless bitch!" the young man who had just been saved his servant's actions cried out. "What good are you if you get knocked around like this by these weaklings?" Instead of helping Rider, he kicked her where she was wounded, making the servant flinch as she tried to get back up.

"The heck? Is that bastard really her master?" Vita asked of no one in particular.

Signum shook her head in disapproval as she jumped back down from the roof she had been on. "It doesn't matter, just take of it already Vita."

"Don't kill them!" said Negi, whose second encounter with servants other than his was only reinforcing his doubts.

"Fine, fine," Vita strode forward as she rolled her eyes. Their new master was going to be the death of her.

The other master must have realised the situation he was now in as he suddenly moved to put Rider between him and Vita. As they watched, Rider struggled back to her feet and moved to guard herself.

"Man, I really to pity ya," said Vita as she watched her opponent get up as the master decided to run for it. "I mean how unlucky do you have ta be ta end up with a wretch like that for your master? Our master may still be a brat, but at least he's got guts."

Rider smiled grimly. "Punishment for my sins I suppose."

Vita smiled. "Heh, maybe. I'm almost sorry to do this to ya now."

"Why don't you stop then," asked the servant as she crouched down.

"I said almost," Vita deadpanned. "_Todliche Strafe!_"

In an amazing display of agility, Rider managed to dodge Vita's opening attack and the flurry of blows that followed. Impaired by her wound however, she was unable to avoid a sheathed Laevatein as it came down upon her neck.

"Shamal," Signum calmly called out to the knight who was on stand-by. "Bind her. Vita, get that mage."

"Got it," Vita flew after the master who had run and caught him by the simple expedient of hitting him in the head. She might not be able to kill them, but for a jerk like this a concussion or two wouldn't go amiss.

Meanwhile, Shamal had begun the collection process, and Rider was suffering the consequences. Negi, who had still been in shock last time, was able to see things in details this time and wasn't enjoying it. Restrained by the magic binds that held her Rider was only able to cry out in pain as the Book of Darkness guzzled her magic power in what he imagined was a process similar to what he had felt earlier.

He was about to ask Shamal to stop when, to everybody's shock, Rider disappeared.

"Huh?"

"Eh?"

"Oh my," Shamal pursed her lips. "I forgot about those."

"Command seal?" Signum inquired.

"Most probably." agreed Shamal.

"Uhm, what just happened?" Negi was clueless again and not liking the lack of information.

"Rider's master probably summoned her with a command seal, master," Shamal kindly explained.

"... Isn't that Rider's master over there?" said Negi, growing increasingly confused.

Signum and Shamal turned to look at the unconscious body that Vita had dumped in front of them.

"He's right, you know," said Vita. "What's going on here?"

"I'll... Get back to you on that one," said Shamal with a rueful shake of her head. An adolescent master, masters that weren't. This Grail War was becoming even more confusing than the last one.

Vita slung Graf Eisen behind her back. "Eh, just get the pages from this guy so we can get outta here then."

Negi turned away as Shamal opened the book, not eager to see the pain that it caused again. He didn't have long to wait however as the book shut down almost as soon as it began.

"Hmm, that's odd," Shamal commented as she looked at the book. "He doesn't have much more power than an average human."

"Decoy?" Signum wondered.

"Maybe," Shamal nodded. "That would explain why Rider disappeared."

"The other one's coming!" Zafira suddenly shouted.

Instantly, barriers were put up around Negi and the forms of the Wolkenritter as a rain of sleek daggers came flying out of the shadows. Forewarned by Zafira however, none of them were hurt as the darkened blades bounced off their shields. The enemy must have realised that they had failed, as all Negi saw was a flicker in the corner of his eyes before the shape vanished.

"He's running," said Zafira.

"Can you track him?" asked Signum, looking in the direction that she had seen the enemy go.

"I would have to be in beast form," Zafira said as he stretched his senses. "Whoever it is, they are good. I could barely feel them until that attack and the signal faded even further once they started to run."

Drawing up the odds in her head, Signum decided to give up on this one. For now at least. It seemed like the servant Assassin, and that was one that needed care in going after. Especially if you had your master along with you.

Signum looked back and was about to inquire as to her master's condition when she noticed that something was wrong. Her little master was frozen as if his mind had shut down, staring blankly at the mage that they had captured with a haunted look in his eyes.

"Master?" she called softly to him.

Negi swallowed. "Are those knives?" he asked as he stared at the three hilts that stuck out of the motionless body.

Shamal moved to cover his eyes. "You don't need to look at it master."

Negi was breathing heavily now, fighting the urge to throw up. He had nearly forgotten about the body he had seen earlier, the bloody corpse over which the spearman had been standing. This time though it was worse. In front of his eyes, a man who had been talking and breathing just a moment ago had been turned into a lifeless cadaver.

And he hadn't been able to do anything.

He was still useless.

He was weak.

Pathetic.

The flash of pain that tore its way across his chest was the first reminder of his precarious situation. Quickly, Negi settled into the Buddhist mantra that father Kotomine had passed on to him. Cycling his magic through his body and soul in the ancient form meant to settle the mind and protect it from outside influence. Kotomine-san had warned him that if he got agitated he risked being consumed again by the Book of Darkness. Get too unbalanced, and he would die.

"Master?" Signum crouched down slightly so that she could look into his face. "Are you having problems again?"

Negi finished the quiet chant and opened his eyes. "No... I'm okay."

His servants weren't convinced in the least by his acting. Signum looked at him drily and motioned towards Zafira. "Zafira, carry him. We should get to the mansion as quickly as possible."

"No, really. I'm okay!" Negi protested weakly. "You really don't need to do this."

In spite of his protests Zafira picked him up and put him on his back. Negi struggled a little but soon realised the futility of his efforts.

"Let's get going," said Signum. She was relieved that their master hadn't broken down after seeing somebody killed in front of him, but wanted to get away from here as soon as possible in order to get away from the reminders. Their master was young and appeared to have a gentle heart. She would try to ensure that he kept it as long as possible.

* * *

On the other side of town servant Lancer was meeting up with his master.

"Oy, master," he called out as he entered the dockside office building that the Clocktower had hired. "I killed the guy you told me to kill."

"Good job Lancer," came the reply from upstairs. "Were there any problems?"

Lancer smiled sheepishly. "Ah... A kid saw me do it."

"... Did you make sure to kill him?"

"That's the thing you know," Lancer said idly as he twirled his spear. "The kid turned out to be a master, with four servants none the less. Their noble phantasms were pretty strong so I had to kinda..."

"Lancer..." groaned the hero's master as she came down the stairs. "We weren't supposed to leave any witnesses."

Lancer's Irish accent was at full bellow as he examined the carvings on his treasured weapon. "He's just a kid, and I can always kill him later. What's the big deal?"

Bazett pinched the bridge of her nose. "Must... Not... Kill... Servant... Stay... Calm Bazett."

Oblivious to his master's troubles, or perhaps fully aware of them, Lancer began to hum an old war song.

"Oh fine," Bazett finally threw up her arms in despair. "But if things go wrong because of this you are getting the blame, do you get me?"

"Sure, cutie," Lancer told her with a wink.

Bazett blushed and looked away. "Get a grip Bazett," she mumbled under her breath. "It's your job to make sure that the TSAB don't find out about..."

"Boo," Lancer whispered into her ear as he suddenly appeared behind her.

Despite appearances, Bazett did shriek like a girl.

* * *

After the last four hectic days, Emiya Shirou was pretty sure that nothing could surprise him any more. First he had been attacked and fatally wounded at school, then he had somehow managed to summon _King Arthur_ after he had run back home. On top of this King Arthur turned out to be a _girl_. An exotically beautiful girl at that. Finally, as if that wasn't enough. His dad had come home after an extended trip with the most popular girl at school in tow, and had congratulated him on getting engaged to her. Oh, and had he mentioned that she was supposed to be trying to kill him for the next few days?

He was still trying to get his head around that one.

The worst part of it all had definitely been last night though. When his dad had not come home after a planned meeting with one of his old friends, he had gone out to search for him, only to find him dead and his corpse watched over by a girl out of a brothers Grimm fairy tale.

After the battle and his rescue by Rin he had recovered the body. The shock and dismay of losing his only parent had sunk in then, and for the first time he could remember he broke down into tears.

He had woken up in Saber's arms, and was grateful for her presence. If he had been alone... He wasn't sure what he would have done last night, but he was sure he would have regretted it come the morning.

When he had regained his equilibrium he thanked Saber for her compassion and got up to prepare for the new day. He had to arrange for the Mage's Association to come deal with his father's body of course, but for now he had to get on with life, and the monumental task in front of him.

The Holy Grail War. A conflict between mages for the attainment of their dreams and ambitions. A struggle that he hadn't dreamed of participating in until just four days ago, upon that moonlit night when he had met Saber.

Mourning could wait until he secured his victory.

Shirou was in the midst of doing the laundry when the doorbell rang. Thinking that it was the Association's clean-up team here for dad's body, he went to the door and was about to open it when he remembered that he needed to be careful. As dad had warned him, more masters had died from enemy plots than were ever killed by the servants.

"Who is it?" Shirou asked a safe distance away from the door. He had his body reinforced to its limits so that he could get to safety if needed.

"Hello!" a woman called out. "Is this Emiya-san's residence? My name's Lindy Harlaown and I've come from the TSAB. I believe that we were supposed to meet you last night."

Shirou froze. This was the friend that dad had gone out to meet? While he was pretty sure that the girl from last night was to blame for the incident, he was still unsure as to who he could trust right now.

"My father was killed last night," he said more bitterly than he had intended. "May I ask what it was that you were supposed to meet him for?"

The woman on the other side of the door was quiet for a moment. "... I am very sorry for your loss Emiya-san. Your father was to meet us in order to discuss a dangerous artefact that our organisation has been tracking for the last two hundred years. When he did not show up last night we had our suspicions, but..."

Her voice trailed off, and Shirou found a layer of his suspicions melting as he heard the genuine apology in her voice.

"Uhm... Would it be possible for us to pay our respects?" asked the woman.

Shirou opened the door. "Come on in," he said tiredly. "I wanted to know just what it was that got dad killed anyway."

* * *

Signum slept, her body approximating the human action in an effort to conserve energy. Whether or not she dreamed only she knew, but as for the conditions under which she could stay asleep, they were much the same as anyone else.

"... Mmm, sis..." *Chuuu*

As in, she couldn't stay asleep with another mouth covering her own.

"MMmmf?" Signum's eyes flew open, and stayed wide open as she registered her master's presence in her bed. More precisely, her master's presence _on top of her_ in her bed.

"Master?" she asked with random thoughts flying across her mind as she pulled away from him.

"... Mwah?" Negi sleepily cracked open one eye. "Ah, good morning Ms Signum." Negi yawned, and promptly fell back onto the bed.

Still new to the whole concept of emotions, Signum had no idea what to think as she watched her little master go back to sleep. It was clear that his actions had been something akin to sleep-walking, but still... A kiss? For that matter, how had he even gotten that close to her without her waking? She had never been caught so badly off her guard, and it deeply disturbed her.

When she had collected herself, Signum noted the light as it streamed in through the windows. Late morning. She really should be up and making sure that the area was secure. During the last Grail War most of the action had taken place during the night, but just because no one had acted in the morning yet it didn't mean that she could relax.

Throwing herself into her duty to forget about her emotional turmoil, Signum crept out of bed so as to avoid waking her master and left the room. As she came out she was pleased to note that Zafira was out and about. With him keeping watch there was little chance that anyone could get near without warning.

That thought brought up her brush with the master again, and Signum blushed as she tried to forget about it. She was supposed to be making sure that her master was safe, not thinking about how soft his - Argh!

It was the odd sight of Signum banging her head against the wall that greeted Vita as she opened the door to her room. When she saw this the red-haired girl blinked, realised that she must still be in a dream, and went back to her bed to wake up properly this time.

* * *

Negi wondered why Signum was red-faced as they all walked down towards the nearest shopping area for a late breakfast, or early lunch if you looked at it properly. He forgot about it soon enough however as he remembered his own woes. Excessively heavy ones for a child like him to bear.

When he had gotten through to Headmaster Konoe on the phone earlier this morning he had thought that his troubles were at an end. Those hopes had been dashed but a moment later when he was told that though his situation was bad, the situation on the other side of the line was even worse. Some terrorists had attacked the school and had apparently ransacked a part of the magical library that it guarded. A library that Negi hadn't had a clue about until the headmaster told him about it. Thankfully, no lives had been lost, but enough of the teachers and other staff at the school had been hurt that no one could be spared to come to his aid.

On the plus side he had gotten an advance on his wages for the month and a promise that his belongings would be sent along as soon as they arrived... But that wasn't much of a plus now that he thought about it. He still had to deal with all his problems by himself.

Negi's gloom was such that it was only when they reached a busy street that he noticed the odd looks that were coming their way, and then only because they were stopped by a kindly Japanese couple.

"Ah. Boy. You okay?" the man asked him in clumsy English.

"Excuse me?" Negi replied in fluent Japanese.

"Oh!" The man's eyes lit up when he realised that Negi could speak his language. "Sorry about that. Ahem, me and my wife here were just wondering if..." he stopped and looked nervously at the Wolkenritter who had tensed when he approached them. "Ah, that is..."

"We were curious as to whether or not your companions are your friends?" the woman stepped in to finish the question.

Negi wondered what they were talking about. His companions were... Oh.

He finally saw the strange looks that everyone was giving them and understood why. The sleek black clothes that the Wolkenritter wore were a bit... Brief. They also had the look of people who were uncomfortable with the attention they were receiving as they nervously looked around themselves.

Negi wondered how he was going to explain this one, until inspiration came to him in the form of a pop culture reference he had read while he was preparing to come to Japan.

"They are cos-playing," he lied with a smile. "My cousins heard from someone that it wasn't that odd to go around in costume here. I take it this isn't the case?"

The couple looked at each other. "Uhm, no. Not unless there is an event on somewhere."

"Ooooh," Negi played the part of an innocent child better than even he had known he could. "I think that they might need to change their clothes then."

By now the Japanese couple that had stopped him and some of the people who had gathered to watch wore fixed grins as they tried not to break into laughter.

"Sorry for bothering you kid," the man said with twitching lips. "Have fun while you are here in Japan."

"Thank you, we will," Negi replied with a bow.

Excitement over, the crowd dispersed, but not before Negi heard a few people mutter things about 'crazy gaijin'.

Letting out a heavy breath, Negi thanked god for his small mercies. He hadn't been sure that would work and was lost as to how he would have explained things if pressed.

"Oi, master. What's cos-playing?" asked Vita who had watched the whole thing from beside him.

Negi's smile faltered.

One stop at the nearest shopping district later, they were still drawing attention from passers-by, but for very different reasons.

For Zafira the reason was obvious. Tall foreigners with tanned skin and white hair weren't exactly common in Fuyuki, and the tight-fitting t-shirt and jeans that he had picked out left women drooling and men wondering how much he could benchpress.

Signum and Shamal on the other hand had transformed from unapproachable femme fatales to gorgeous examples of the fairer sex. The shop-owners had helped them pick out styles that matched their figures and Shamal did look good in the light green jacket and cream skirt that she had on. Signum had opted out from wearing a skirt, but still looked great in the hip-hugging grey pants and white shirt that she wore.

Vita and Negi too attracted their fair share of attention. Negi because he looked adorable in his suit, and Vita because she looked cute in her set t-shirt and skirt.

Together they looked like a family out on a vacation, and looked good doing it too.

"Master, you didn't need to do this," said Signum as they sat down to have lunch. "If you used the book it would have been quite easy to modify our armour to suit your needs. Wasting time and resources on our clothes like this was unnecessary."

"Don't be so rude, Signum," Shamal told her fellow knight off. "I know you liked it. Just thank Negi-kun for his gift and be done with it."

"Negi-kun?" Zafira remarked with a raised eyebrow.

Negi stammered as he tried to explain. "Well, it feels really weird to be called master by all of you, so I was wondering if you could call me by name." He looked at Signum with puppy dog eyes. "Please?"

Unprepared for a mental attack, Signum quickly succumbed. "Ah, well. As you wish mas- I mean, Negi-kun." She caught sight of Shamal's frown. "And... Thank you for the clothes. I didn't mean to sound ungrateful earlier."

"You are welcome Signum," Negi replied with a smile. Shamal had told him earlier to call them by their names if he wanted them to use his.

Off to the side of the conversation, Vita was staring uncertainly at the dish in the middle of the table.

"What wrong Vita?" asked Negi when he noticed.

Vita turned her stare towards him, keeping her silence for a while before she asked, "What do you do with this?"

"Eh?" Negi looked at the pizza and then back at Vita. "Uhm... You eat it."

Strangely, Vita seemed confused by this. "Eat it? Why?"

Seeing that Negi was lost again, Shamal stepped in to explain. "You have to understand Negi-kun that we don't require food like normal humans. In fact, none of us have actually consumed food in our memory."

"You can't eat?" Negi looked horrified as he looked at them.

Shamal thought about it. "Well, our bodies are fully functional now, so I suppose there's no reason we couldn't, but I don't really see the point. We operate perfectly fine on the energy that we get from you and the book, Negi-kun."

"But, but, you have to eat!" said Negi. "That's what people do!"

Signum looked at him strangely. "Is that an order master?"

"Eh? Eh?" Negi's brain was addled by the revelation that the Wolkenritter hadn't eaten anything before and was in no condition to give a coherent response.

"Let's just try it," said Shamal as she saw that their poor master was having trouble coming to grips with the idea.

"It won't damage us will it?" Zafira asked as he took a slice.

"There's no reason it should," Shamal assured him, but she looked a little uncertain.

When the older Wolkenritters put the pizza into their mouths however, they were all pleasantly surprised by the enjoyable sensations that they received.

"Oh my, that's... Very nice," Shamal whispered as she savoured the taste.

"..." Signum nodded but had no words for her as she looked down at the slice of pizza she had taken.

Zafira was too busy finishing his slice off to respond at all.

Negi had booted himself back to some semblance of consciousness now and smiled at the expressions on the Wolkenritters' faces as they ate. When he realised that Vita still hadn't tried it, he began to urge her to eat.

"Come on Vita, just take a bite," he said to the girl who was looking at him doubtfully.

"Try it Vita, it's actually very good," Shamal reassured her junior.

Vita frowned, but took Shamal at her word as she slowly reached for the smallest slice on the plate. She hesitantly brought it up to her mouth, stopping it before her eyes to take one last look. The weird stretchy yellow stuff was all over the thing, and the red and brown bits were a little off-putting, but she had to admit that the smell was nice.

Closing her eyes, Vita slowly bit down on the end of the slice. When she opened her eyes again it was with a look of childish delight in her eyes that Negi was familiar with from his days with his childhood friend Anya.

The pizza disappeared quickly after that. One little boy mage filling his stomach, while four beings older than most countries yet younger than their little master explored the domain of taste for the first time in their remembered existences.

* * *

In any other city the empty clearing near its heart would have been out of place, but this was Fuyuki, where everyone knew how that space had been created. Ten years was too short a time to forget, and to this day it was the rare individual who chose to trespass upon that unadorned memorial to the dead.

"An eighth master?" one of those rare individuals remarked as she strolled across the park that the scar on the city had become. "Are you sure about that Saber-san?"

"Quite certain," Saber said as she exchanged a glance with Shirou. "I am not sure what this Book of Darkness has to do with the Sangrael, but I remember that the four knights that Harlaown-san told us of were involved in the last war."

Rin looked at her oddly. "You know, I'm still not sure how that's possible. Even if you were summoned the last time you shouldn't have retained your memories upon being summoned here again."

Not knowing what to say, Saber simply shrugged.

"Do you remember anything about them Saber?" Shirou asked as he looked around the darkening park. "All Harlaown-san told us was to be careful."

Saber got a thoughtful look upon her face. "They were... Odd. They fought without showing emotion, and used strange spells and noble phantasms."

"Spells?" Rin frowned. "They are casters then?"

"No," Saber empathically shook her head. "They were formidable warriors, but they all possessed the ability to cast offensive spells through their noble phantasms as well as being able to fly."

"Fly?" asked Archer suddenly, startling both Rin and Shirou with his appearance.

"Is that a problem Archer?" Saber asked when she saw the serious look on her ally's face. "I would have thought that with your class you would find that less of a problem than I would."

"It's not that," the enigmatic servant replied as he appeared to think. "What you just said jostled a memory of mine, that's all."

Rin raised an eyebrow. "You finally remembered something Archer? Your name perhaps?"

Archer stayed silent for a moment before he shook his head. "Sorry, it's gone now. All I know is that there's something strangely familiar about what you just told me."

Rin pouted as another chance to find out more about her servant was lost. It frustrated her that in the time she had had him by her side, all she had managed to learn about him was a few of his skills and that he had a very twisted personality.

"Do you remember anything else about them?" Shirou asked to get the conversation back on track. "Their noble phantasms? Appearance? Styles of fighting?"

"Only two of them used weapons as I recall," replied Saber. "There was a short girl who used a hammer, and a swordswoman of some skill. The other two seemed to rely more on their spells, and stayed back while their companions engaged us directly. They were very troublesome in that regard as they always outnumbered us. As for their appearance... They were a bit hard to miss. A tall man with white hair and dark skin, a golden-haired woman and a pink-haired swordswoman of considerable beauty, and a short red-haired girl with a large hammer."

"Huh, really? That's weird, you just exactly described that group over there," Shirou said with a grin.

"... !"

"Huh?"

"..." Shirou's grin faded. "That is them, isn't it?"

"Yep," confirmed Archer as he watched the enemy get into their battle gear. Black leather. Kinky. "Get back Rin. It looks like this might get messy."

"Two servants, and a pair of masters," Shamal announced as the results of her scan came in.

"They are already beginning to work together?" Signum asked, surprised.

"We can't be sure it's because of us," Shamal told her. "They may have decided to team up earlier. It is a valid strategy until we get to the end of the war."

"Still only two of them," Vita said with a shrug. "We can take them."

Signum gave her a disapproving frown. "Vita, don't forget about the mages. That's how we got into trouble last time."

"Oh, come on," Vita whined. "That guy was a freak! A monster! How many people like him can there be on one world?"

"Even so, just be on your guard," said Signum as she tightened her grip on Laevatein. "Shamal, is the master safe?"

Shamal nodded. "Negi-kun is fine Signum, I will be going back to him now."

"Keep him safe," Signum told her before she disappeared. "Vita, Zafira, take the one on the right. I will take care of the Saber. Laevatein, are you ready?"

"_**Jawohl!**_"

* * *

It was soon clear to Saber that fighting the Wolkenritter was not going to be any easier than it had been the last time around. She was obviously the more skilled sword-wielder of the two, but the spells that her opponent occasionally threw into the mix were enough to disrupt her rhythm, even if they were not powerful enough to harm her directly.

"You are better than I remember," she praised her opponent in a lull between their exchange of blades. Knowing that she faced what could be termed a doll, she didn't expect an answer.

"Than you remember?" the swordswoman muttered, surprising her. "What do you mean... Oh. How surprising. I did not expect to see any of the servants from the last war again."

"You remember me?" Saber asked, a little confused by the unexpected reply.

"You are the Saber we faced during the last Grail War are you not?" her opponent answered. "Greetings, I do not believe that I introduced myself properly last time. I am Signum, Knight of the Sword, General of the Raging Flames."

Saber was growing increasinly perplexed. What had happened to the emotionless killing machine she remembered? Had she always been like this?

Signum misunderstood her silence. "Don't worry about responding Saber, your title is enough. I understand that you must keep your name concealed. In any case, I remember your abilities, and the sword is conversation enough for us is it not?"

Those last words were accompanied by her blade as the Wolkenritter darted forward. Though caught slightly off guard, Saber met the strike with her invisible blade and struck back. Signum was right, for wielders of swords like themselves the clash of blades was all the talk that was needed in that midst of battle. Nevertheless, she appreciated the consideration her foe had shown in not requiring her to give her name. Chivalry required her to answer Signum's proclamation of names and titles, and it would be... Troublesome should someone overhear.

It did not escape the King of Knights as she engaged in combat once more that the situation elsewhere was not favourable for her side. Archer was being pressed by the small one and the wolf-man, unable to strike back effectively as he tried to keep their attention upon him. This constraint upon his combat style was explained by the occasional spell that the Wolkenritter shot in the direction of their masters. So far Rin and Shirou only sported a few cuts and bumps, but in the event that either of the Wolkenritter was to stop attacking Archer the threat to their safety would rise exponentially.

To everyone's surprise, it was the sight of Vita taking to the skies once more that would shift the odds.

"Bloody hell!" Archer swore as the sight knocked clear a piece of his confused past. "I can't believe I forgot about that! Guardian Wing, trace on!"

As Archer shouted out that command, the strange glove on his left hand that had so puzzled Rin finally revealed a part of its secrets.

"_Barrier Jacket,_" the Midchildan intelligent device responded as it expanded into its active gaunlet form. "_Greetings master. Guardian Wing, ready to serve._"

"Archer?" Rin mumbled as her servant was covered by a red jacket and black armour that replaced the black shirt that he had worn till now. Did that glove of his just _speak?_

"Huh?" Vita blinked as she saw one of the servants summoned by the Sangrael activate what appeared to be an intelligent device.

"Trace on?" Shirou repeated to himself as he wondered just why the jerk that was Tohsaka's servant had an activation key so similar to his.

"Aerial," ignoring all of them, Archer activated his device's flight system. "X speed."

"Where did he go?" Vita wondered when Archer disappeared from her sight.

"Vita!" Zafira warned when he saw where their enemy had gone. "Behind you!"

"Too late!" Archer cried out as Bakuya came down.

It was a sure hit. Even Vita knew that she would get hurt badly as she turned to try and block. Strangely enough however, Archer's blade stopped inches from Vita's unprotected neck. The servant himself didn't seem to know why he had stopped, and wore a stupified expression on his face until Graf Eisen smashed him away a moment later.

"Archer!" alarmed by the direct hit her servant had taken, Rin got ready to use a command rune to pull him out.

"I'm fine!" Archer called out as he got up from where he had impacted the ground. "My barrier jacket took the hit!"

Rin sighed in relief though she didn't exactly understand what he meant - the general idea was clear enough - then grew angry as she recovered her pose. "Don't scare me like that! What's up with you anyway? Even I could tell that you froze just now! What are you playing at?"

"I am curious myself," Zafira growled from where he stood ready to attack. "Why did you not go through with that attack?"

Archer shrugged as he traced another pair of swords. "Would you believe that I don't like to hit children?"

"Graf Eisen! Raketenform!"

"Guess not," Archer winced as he quickly leapt aside to dodge Vita's wild attack. "To be honest with you, I'm not too sure myself. My memory is clearing up though as I fight you guys, so..." he tossed Kanshou and Bakuya at Vita to disrupt her attack, then escaped up into the skies as he traced his bow. "Let me enjoy your company a little more Chibi-chan, Puppy-man!"

A flurry of arrows accompanied his 'request', and the two Wolkenritter went on the defensive. This was a mistake though as Archer took advantage of their distraction to trace a special arrow. Vita saw only a flash of flight in the sky before something crashed into her shields. The explosion rocked the park and even the two swordswomen locked in combat off to the side paused to see what had happened.

His vision obscured by the dust and the smoke, Shirou had to squint to make out anything of the fight raging around him. He wasn't sure why, but he was getting a very strong feeling that it was important to keep an eye on Archer as that servant revealed his skills. More important in fact than Saber's battle against the enemy swordswoman. He couldn't imagine Saber losing, and there was something about the way Archer fought that demanded his attention.

That absorption in the battle however nearly cost him his life.

"Shirou!" he heard Rin call out as circles of light appeared on the ground below.

Zafira's roar echoed through the park as spikes of white light burst up from the ground, with a force fit to impale anything they caught. Shirou and Rin escaped that fate by the skin of their teeth as they used their magic to reinforce themselves as they jumped away from the affected zone.

"Don't stand there like an idiot Shirou!" Rin shouted. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Sorry," he replied distractedly. This time when he turned to observe the fight he remembered to keep an eye out for dangers.

* * *

"How are they doing?" one person in a mask asked of another.

Stuck in a perpetual grin, servant Assassin's white mask seemed to float within the darkness of the late evening.

"Fair enough," the servant replied in a rasping voice. "They are more evenly matched than I thought they would be, mainly because of that strange Archer."

"Yes, he was a surprise," the master responded. "Do you think that you can get in there without being detected?"

Assassin barked out a harsh laugh. "Have you forgotten what I am? What do you wish me to do?"

"Take out Archer's master," the dark servant's master replied. "Disruptions to the plan... cannot be tolerated.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the shadows around the park, other players were about to make their move.

"Team three, ready."

"Team one, ready."

"Team two, ready."

"Spearhead here," Bazett whispered into the charm that connected her to the extermination teams sent by the Clock Tower. "Ready. Get set to move."

"Roger," came the response from some of the deadliest mages of Western Europe.

There was something in Fuyuki City that the Clock Tower wanted, and what the Clock Tower wanted, it would get. No matter what stood in its way.

* * *

Unbeknownst to any of those below, the TSAB were also getting ready to deploy. Headed by Chrono and Fate, the special forces team made their way to the transporters thinking about how they were going to deal with the Wolkenritter and the abilities they were known to use.

Though they had been briefed about the presence of local mages, none of them paid that information much regard. After all, how dangerous could some scattered mages from a primitive backwater planet like this one be? They didn't even have devices to boost their powers!

There was only one word to describe what happened next.

Chaos.

-x-x-x-

**And... That's all folks. Sorry but inspiration kinda died on this one and I'm more interested in my other story for now. I might come back to this one once I'm done with Prismatic Chaos, but that... Is going to take a while.**

**As compensation I will leave you with this little fragment from a future chapter that I had planned.**

* * *

"Veniant Spiritus Aeriales Fulgurientes!"

As Negi began his incantation, the Book of Darkness woke in response to the surge of magical power it sensed from its master.

Spell activation detected

Searching archive

"Cum Fulguratione -"

Matches: 1 - Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens

Analysing environment - hostiles detected

Spell intent: Field clearance - Target: Hostile - all

Targets acquired - encoding changes into base spell matrix for optimal effect

The Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens was one of the most powerful offensive spells that Western Mages of the Megalosembrian school could learn. As befitted such a spell, the mental capacity required to bring up and maintain the spell structure encoded into the chant was considerable. Most mages never reached that standard, and while Negi could be counted amongst the top 0.1 percent of the mage population of Earth, even he had required half a year before he could use the spell under controlled conditions. More experienced mages also commonly modified the structure in order to customise the spell for their own use, but Negi did not yet have enough familarity with the spell for that, and normally stuck to the standard form that he had learnt.

Today was different. Though Negi didn't realise it himself, the circle that was now being realised in the space around him was at least five times larger and more complex than any version he had used before. It also contained changes to its structure that changed it from an uni-directional attack to a multi-target barrage.

"- Flet Tempestas Austrina!"

Amplification - Level: Default

Spell activation

"Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens!"

Negi released the spell, and a storm descended upon the battlefield. Where they struck, the whirling vortices of thunder and wind brought devastation, and men found themselves thrown into the air as the spell's power ripped them from where they stood. Not even the servants were safe, and only Assassin remained upright as the spell raged, his training in the arts of storm-walking protecting him from the fury of the elements.

**Negi + Book of Darkness = No more bad guys?**


End file.
